Winner of Gourmand Best in the World cook book awards 2014

The stage was set this time in Yentai, China. Though I was a bit confused in the beginning about why Yantai, but it was clear why, Mr Edouard Cointreau, Chairman Gourmand – cook book fair, had chosen this destination for the awards this year once I landed in Yantai.

Yantai earlier known as Chefoo, is a city in the Shandong province of China. Yantai in chinese means “Smoke tower” which was used for lighting fire , in earlier days, to inform the villagers about the approaching Japanese pirates
However now Yantai is a wine producing city and has numerous wine states or farms. I tried some delicious local wines during the event.

As always the grandeur of the Gourmand event was magnificent. There was a Gourmand family dinner of the 7th June 2015. It was a sumptuous Chinese fare with local and traditional dishes. We intermingled with few old and known faces and some new entrants in the family. The whole atmosphere was of delight and a littler anticipation as to who will be the winners of the Gourmand best in the world.

8th June was the day to honour the wine and other beverages book awards and few special awards and 9th June was to celebrate the best cook books in the world published between 2013 – 2014.
The event was first time in an open air huge garden in the wine bay. It was a beautifully planed even where we all were welcomed by the traditionally dressed Chinese folk dancers and chefs busy intricately carving on fruits and vegetables and few chefs busy serving Peking duck before the function was to start.
The event started with excellently choreographed folk dances and songs, followed by the awards and some speeches. Finally a renowned artist presented an intricately sketched a calligraphic presentation to Mr Cointreau as a vote of thanks from Yantai.

I was fortunate for my blog foodie trail received the special jury award on the 8th of June 2015, followed by a Chinese community style sit down dinner. There was a long table set for hundreds of guests. We all were given raw materials to make dumplings together. It was fun rolling the dough and filling the dumplings and then comparing whose was perfect.

It was one of the most memorable dinners I’ve had with some old and some new found friends.
To sum up I sincerely thank Mr E.Cointreau and Gourmand to celebrate the cook books of the world and the chefs and authors who also cook with words.
Looking forward to the best of best at the Frankfurt cook book awards and congratulate Gourmand for their latest tie up with the Frankfurt book fair.

First chef from India to be invited to Le cordon Bleu to demonstrate in Paris. Monish is credited with the trailblazing turn-around of Moti Mahal, from being a small but iconic presence in Delhi, to becoming a multi-national corporation that is well on its way to defining how the world eats Indian food. A traditionalist, Monish has remained true to the signature dishes that made Moti Mahal a legend, while reinventing the dining experience into one that is exciting and avant garde to suit modern sensibilities.